Home to Me

by Bybee, Catherine

  “At first glance, what do you think is going to happen?” Matt asked.

  Ed didn’t miss a beat. “They’ll total it.”

  Erin winced.

  Ed walked around the car pointing out what he saw and the numbers involved with fixing them. “Back bumper, trunk, and side panels. Same with the front of the car. And here . . .” He walked to the driver’s side. “Driver’s door is trashed. Were you driving?” he asked Erin.

  She nodded.

  “Did someone pry the door open for you to get out?”

  “Yeah, it was stuck.”

  Ed bobbed his head like one of those dolls. “Right. So not only is the door going to have problems, but chances are the frame of the car is compromised, too. And fixing that is expensive. The radiator was leaking when it was brought in but we need to dig and see what else is damaged. On the interior, the airbags, dashboard, steering wheel.” He stopped and sighed. “It’s a lot. And since it’s not that new of a car, and not that expensive of a car, the repair will likely exceed its value, and that’s when the insurance company says no thanks, they give you a check, and you start over.”

  “Will I be able to replace it with the check they give me?”

  Ed laughed. “Not in my experience unless you have great insurance. And this is where the blame game starts.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “This was on the freeway, right?”

  “Yeah.”

  “The guy behind you will say you stopped too fast and he couldn’t avoid hitting you. Or maybe he was on your butt and he is at fault. Same for the car you hit. Were you too close, or did he slam on the brakes? It all becomes a bunch of finger-pointing. And if all the cars have insured drivers, the insurance companies look for fault so that the other company pays.”

  Erin walked to the front of the car. “My brakes gave out. I tried to stop. I couldn’t.”

  “Did you recently have them worked on?” Ed asked.

  “No. And they were working fine when we drove into the city.”

  Matt knelt down to look at the wheels. “You said you noticed a problem after you got on the freeway, right?” Matt asked.

  “I guess the first time was as I was merging on.”

  Ed rocked back on his heels. “I’ll look at ’em. Check to see if there is a recall of some sort. Insurance companies love going after the manufacturers, and if that’s the case, and you can prove it, you’ll probably get more money and afford to replace this one.”

  Matt stood and shook the man’s hand. “Thank you. It helps knowing what’s coming.”

  “I’ve been doing this twenty years. I can usually call ’em.”

  Before they left, Ed had both their phone numbers and all of Erin’s insurance information. Erin had collected everything personal from the car, and they were hitting traffic on the same road she’d crashed on the day before.

  “Rental car next?” Matt asked.

  “How long do you think I’m going to need it?”

  “You heard Ed. He didn’t think the insurance company will move fast. I’m thinking minimum two weeks.”

  “I need to look at my finances. Besides, I’m not in a hurry to drive right now.”

  Matt glanced at her. “You’re going to need a car.”

  “I know. But I can put it off for a few days. And if the insurance company says they’re going to fix it instead of writing an insufficient check, then I can afford to rent something for a while. If not, then I’d rather spend that money on something else.” She looked out the window and muttered, “I don’t have any more shoes to sell.”

  “But you’re going to be okay, right?”

  She nodded. “I have some money saved. I want to be smart. The old me would have been all, ‘Let’s go rent something.’ The new me is trying to be responsible. And since I work from home and don’t have to leave the house every day . . .”

  “I get it. That’s smart. And besides, you have me.”

  She smiled for the first time in the past hour. “When did that happen exactly?”

  Matt laughed. “At the risk of sounding like a drunk in a bar, I’ll say it was when you said, ‘Hello, my name is Erin.’”

  “That was at Christmas.” She sounded surprised.

  “What can I say? I’m a sucker for sad eyes with a beautiful smile.”

  She stared in her lap. “I really want the sad eyes to go away.”

  He placed his hand between them, palm up.

  Erin laced her fingers with his.

  The sadness was starting to dim. She just needed more time.

  It took three days before a lack of car became a complete pain.

  Ed was right. The insurance company wasn’t in a hurry to make any final decisions.

  Her income was paying her bills, barely, but she knew bigger ones were coming. Renee was a bleeding heart for the abused wife, and Erin knew she was being given a big discount taking into account she was going to try and make Desmond pay for her attorney fees. But Erin knew the bill was coming.

  She’d sold her shoes and even a few pricy dresses, and the money had given her a plane ticket, a new identity, and enough money to buy a used car and pay her rent at Parker’s for almost a solid year. But when she really took a good look, there wasn’t enough in her account to keep her going for long. She needed to either work a heck of a lot more, or cut her expenses. Buying her next used car would be completely dependent on the check from the insurance company. Erin wasn’t proud to admit that the idea of being broke was foreign to her. Even when she’d left Desmond, she had enough money to get by.

  Instead of letting it get to her, Erin worked extra hours over the weekend and accepted another two manuscripts to put in her already busy schedule. The answer was to make more money and not bitch about what she didn’t have.

  Matt convinced her to join him with his parents for a Sunday dinner, and she welcomed the break. Because he was off the following day, she stayed the night at his house.

  The routine they were falling into was chipping away at the deep sadness that had lived inside her for years. She even found herself watching baseball with him and his dad, taking the time to learn the game. Erin didn’t see herself wearing a Dodgers jersey or dying her hair blue, but she enjoyed it enough to make a comment or two about the players. Mainly which ones were easy on the eyes.

  Matt took her ribbing and offered his own, but never went too far.

  When Monday morning rolled around, Erin promised herself she’d get up early and have Matt drive her home so she could get to work.

  He threatened to rent a car for her if she didn’t do so by midweek.

  So when the phone rang while they were drinking coffee, and Ed identified himself, Erin was feeling pretty confident that maybe they had some answers.

  That wasn’t the case.

  “Good morning,” Erin said. She placed her phone on speaker and put it on the table between her and Matt.

  “Good morning. I have my report ready for the insurance company. But I wanted to call you before I sent it in.”

  “How bad is it?” she asked.

  “Actually, the engine is in pretty good shape. But the bodywork inside and out is gonna be expensive. I’ve seen insurance companies go both ways on jobs like this. I’m still leaning toward them sending it to the scrap yard.”

  “Hey, Ed, it’s Matt. We have you on speaker. Any chance you found a recall?”

  “Well, that’s why I’m calling.”

  Erin’s hope surged.

  “There wasn’t any brake fluid in your car.”

  “That explains why the brakes didn’t work,” Matt said.

  “So the question is why. We found a hole in the right rear brake lines.”

  Erin watched Matt for direction.

  He shrugged. “So there’s the issue.”

  “Yeah, but since it was late on Friday and we wanted to get this off the blocks, I had two guys looking at it at the same time. And we found the other line with a bigger hole in almost the e
xact same place.”

  “That doesn’t sound right,” Matt said. Concern danced on his face.

  “I don’t understand,” Erin said, mainly to Matt.

  “Me either. I came in this morning and took a second look. The hoses were in great shape. Shouldn’t have worn out for another couple years. Again, I figured it must be a manufacturer issue. One hose I can chalk up to a bad line, but two that are in the exact same place and clean cuts . . . If this had been a fatality accident, someone would be taking these hoses to a forensic lab to find out what happened so someone could be sued.”

  “A recall?”

  “Has to be. Only other time I saw something like this on a newer car was when a woman got mad at her boyfriend and cut the line on purpose.” Ed laughed.

  Erin laughed with him for the space of two seconds, then she froze. Desmond.

  Matt was staring at her. “You know what, Ed . . . can you take those lines off and maybe give us a contact on who to send them to, to look at further?”

  “No problem.”

  Matt finished the call and hung up.

  Each breath became difficult.

  “Erin?”

  “What if this wasn’t an accident?”

  “We don’t know that.”

  Erin saw just enough doubt in Matt’s eyes to scare her more. “He said he would find me if I ever left.”

  “Let’s not jump to conclusions.”

  She stood, felt the need to move. “Are you suggesting this didn’t cross your mind when Ed laughed at the scorned woman?”

  “What crossed my mind is that you would jump to that end point. Does cutting a brake line match your ex’s MO?”

  “I wouldn’t put it past him.”

  “Think, hon. Has anything else even remotely felt off? Anyone following you? Strange phone calls? Anything?”

  She couldn’t think. “No . . . I don’t know. But I know he doesn’t have any family in Greece.”

  Matt narrowed his eyes. “I’m not following you.”

  “Renee, my attorney. She called last week to tell me he was delaying again because of some family emergency in Greece.”

  Matt started to smile. “See. He’s not in the country. He couldn’t do this.”

  “He could have paid someone to do it.” Even as she said it, she knew Desmond wouldn’t give someone else the task of harming her. He liked to do that personally.

  “Does that sound like him?”

  Erin sat back down. “No.”

  “Deep breath. Okay. There is a rational explanation. We’ll find it.”

  Desmond sat across the bar twisting his wedding band and watching people as they occupied the seats in the busy establishment. His patience was growing thin. If things didn’t start going right for him, someone, somewhere was going to have to pay.

  Slowly each seat at the bar started to fill until there was only the one next to him. Twice someone attempted to sit beside him. Twice he politely suggested he was waiting for someone.

  The bartender was somewhere around twenty-five and had tattoos on both arms and a purple streak in her hair. She’d actually introduced herself when he sat down and reached across the counter to shake his hand. He felt strangely violated and didn’t offer his name. When she wasn’t looking, he wiped his hands on the cloth napkin at his side. At least this shithole could carry off a proper napkin.

  He looked at his watch. Almost showtime.

  That’s when he saw her.

  Desmond skirted his eyes to the side and pushed over on his barstool and stared into his drink.

  She walked up to the bar and sat a bag on the stool. “Hey, Maddie.”

  So she knew the bartender.

  Maddie turned around and lifted a hand. “Hey.”

  The woman beside him caught Desmond’s eyes and she paused. “Is this seat taken?”

  He shook his head. “No, no. Please.”

  She smiled and slid beside him.

  Maddie walked over and pointed at a wineglass. “Chardonnay, or are you thinking red?”

  “Better stick with white. Red goes to my head faster.”

  “Isn’t that the point?” Maddie asked.

  “I’m meeting someone for the first time, I don’t want to look like a professional.”

  The two of them laughed.

  “Who’s the lucky guy?”

  “A right swipe.”

  Maddie groaned. “The worst. If you need an exit, let me know. I’ll help you out.”

  The two of them fist-bumped before his companion sipped her wine and looked at her phone.

  Desmond waited a minute before he directed his words to his left. “I’m sorry,” he said. “What’s a right swipe?”

  She looked up at him like he’d just landed on the planet. “You’re kidding, right?”

  “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked.” He reached for his drink and made sure his wedding ring hit the glass.

  She took notice and laughed. “Oh, you’re married. I guess that makes sense. It’s a dating app. You right swipe when you like the person on the other end.” She made a sweeping motion with her hand.

  “Oh . . . is that how it’s done now?”

  “Sometimes.”

  “And it works?”

  “Not very often or I wouldn’t be sitting here. Well, I might be sitting here, but I wouldn’t be waiting on someone who’s late.” She glanced at her phone and took another look around the bar.

  Desmond forced a sigh. “I suppose I need to figure that out.”

  She did a double take. “Excuse me?”

  He waved his left hand in the air. “I lost my wife in a car accident a couple years ago.”

  “Oh, damn. I’m so sorry.”

  “No, no . . . I didn’t tell you that to gain sympathy. I just don’t want you to think I’m a complete jerk. The idea of dating makes me a little sick. I haven’t done it in years.”

  She looked at his ring. “Well, the first thing you might wanna do is take the ring off.”

  He faked a laugh. “I probably don’t want to date anyone where a ring isn’t a deterrent.”

  She laughed. “That’s a special kind of ugly when a ring is a turn-on.”

  “You’re right. So a dating app, huh?”

  By now she was turned around in her seat and no longer watching the door.

  “It’s a way to break the ice. But you might ask a friend to help with a profile. A good-looking widower who dresses nice is the first profile a woman will think is fake.”

  He made sure his smile was slow, and he met her eyes. She was too short, too curvy, and completely too independent. “People do that?”

  “Men trying to scam women out of money. Shitty people are everywhere. Like the one who stood me up.”

  Desmond lifted his drink. “His loss.”

  She smiled back. Touched her glass to his. “I’m Grace, by the way.”

  “Dylan. It’s nice to meet you.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  There were many perks of being a firefighter. The public loved you, kids adored you, women hit on you . . . and the police respected you. And in Matt’s case, his station was often a lunch and pit stop for the local sheriffs when they were out on patrol. Add to that his father was retired law enforcement, and Matt never worried about getting a ticket in town.

  Right now he was looking up at a uniformed friend, who tossed him a ziplock bag filled with Erin’s brake lines.

  “That was fast.”

  “It took Pete less than five minutes.”

  Draped in a utility belt filled with cuffs, a Taser, a radio, a gun, and everything else a cop needed to stay alive while at work, Ty made a lot of noise as he took a seat opposite him. It was the end of both their shifts. Matt had given Ty the hoses the previous night before going to bed. He must have had whoever Pete was looking at it late.

  “The verdict? There’s a logical explanation, right?”

  “Yeah. Sure . . . Who’d your ol’ lady piss off?”

  Matt’s stomach
fell. “What?”

  Ty stuck his hand inside the bag and removed one of the lines. “Pete took one look and said foul play. See here?” He pointed at the cut. “If this were worn, it wouldn’t have dissected the threads of the tube like this. This is a vertical cut across the threads. Just to make sure, he looked under the scope. The image was clean. Nothing frayed. Nothing the road could re-create with hitting it in just the right spot.”

  “Jesus.”

  “Sharp knife and a grudge can do a shitload of harm. Whoever did this was dedicated. The placement isn’t the easiest to get to.”

  Matt stood and ran a hand through his hair. “She was right.”

  “Any idea who did this?”

  “Yes . . . no. She knows.” All Matt had was a first name.

  “In the right court, this could go down as attempted murder.”

  Matt started to pace. “Son of a bitch.” He looked at his friend. “What the hell am I going to do?”

  “Do you think he’ll do this again?”

  The visceral fear Erin was just starting to shake moved into his veins and took up residence. “She’s still breathing.”

  Ty sat back, crossed his arms over his chest. “If I were you, I’d get a tail on this guy and catch him in the act. And I’d keep my lady close.”

  Matt raised his arms at the station surrounding them. “When I’m at work?”

  “Family, friends . . . I’m happy to take a shift.”

  Where was Erin now? Home . . . she hadn’t rented a car. He was grateful now that she hadn’t.

  Ty shook his hand and left with the promise of taking an extra swing through Erin’s neighborhood.

  Matt was an hour away from his shift change. They were drinking coffee and praying they didn’t get a run. Matt was doubling the call to fate to let him off on time.

  Erin was going to run. He had an hour to find a way to make her stay.

  The sun woke her early. Or maybe it was because Matt hadn’t slept over. She slept better with him by her side, and she wasn’t sure if it was because he exhausted her before they fell asleep, or if she simply felt safer with him there.